October, 30 2009, 09:48am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jordan Libowitz,,jlibowitz@citizensforethics.org,.
CREW Issues Statement on House Ethics Investigations
In response to today's Washington Post story
detailing ethics investigations into a number of members of Congress,
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) executive
director Melanie Sloan released the following statement:
WASHINGTON
In response to today's Washington Post story
detailing ethics investigations into a number of members of Congress,
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) executive
director Melanie Sloan released the following statement:
"Time and time again CREW has called for investigations
of unethical members of Congress, but our pleas seemed to fall on deaf
ears. So, we were pleasantly surprised to learn the ethics committee is
investigating so many members of Congress, but starting an
investigation isn't enough. The real question is whether any of the
members under investigation will ever be held accountable for their
conduct. The committee's record on such matters is dismal. You have
only to look back at the Mark Foley investigation -- where all of
America knew there was wrongdoing yet the committee found none -- to be
skeptical of the House ethics process. There's not much reason to think
anything has changed, but one can always hope."
Ms. Sloan is available to discuss the issues surrounding the ethics
investigations. Please find CREW's complaints against a number of the
members below:
Rep. Jane Harman
Rep. Alan Mollohan
Rep. John Murtha
Rep. Charles Rangel
Rep. Laura Richardson
Rep. Pete Visclosky
Read more about CREW's House ethics work here.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials -- regardless of party affiliation -- who sacrifice the common good to special interests. CREW advances its mission using a combination of research, litigation and media outreach.
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According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
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